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Elaine Hyshka, a public health professor at the University of Alberta, speaks about the risks and benefits of cannabis legalization last Thursday at the university. Madeleine Cummings, Edmonton Examiner

As the legalization of marijuana looms, public health experts are speaking up about the importance of preventing harmful drug use — especially among adolescents.

Though most people who use cannabis do so sporadically and without negative consequences, young users are vulnerable to negative effects on their brain development. Regular cannabis use among youth has been associated with negative mental health effects such as an increased risk of suicide, depression and anxiety disorders.

The federal government has set aside $9.6 million for public education on the risks of cannabis youth, with an emphasis on young people. In Alberta, the minimum age to buy and consume cannabis legally will be 18, but statistics show many young Canadians have had no problem getting their hands on the drug while it has been illegal.

Prevention initiatives should go farther than advertising campaigns, Elaine Hyshka, a professor at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health, told an audience of several hundred at a public lecture on the risks and benefits of cannabis legalization.

“If you are serious about prevention and you want young people to grow up healthy and resilient, don’t buy into these flashy public ads that warn people about drugs,” she said. “They don’t work and they’re expensive.”

She argued money should be invested in evidence-based prevention strategies that focus on the underlying reasons why teens avoid or turn to drugs. Young people do not use cannabis because they lack knowledge about its risks or the skills to say no, she said, so effective prevention strategies should try to shape young peoples’ environment.

In a 2013 review of prevention strategies, she determined that effective ones target peer networks and family structure, two big risk factors for early cannabis use.

What might a better prevention program look like? Hyshka provided an example from Iceland. There, young people were using alcohol and drugs at rates above the European average, so the government enacted many policies designed to strengthen healthy communities and families. Among them was a national curfew, which parents pledged to enforce, to discourage young people from going out at night. The government also funded and promoted sport and leisure programs and gave bursaries to ensure young people from low-income families could participate. These interventions worked: drug use among Icelandic teens has dropped dramatically over the past 20 years.